The Fianna Fail party of Prime Minister Bertie Ahern has won 78 seats in Ireland’s 166-seat parliament, a victory that falls five seats short of an outright majority.

Fianna Fail’s centre-ground rival, Fine Gael, won 51 seats, while the left-wing Labour Party won 20. The environmentalist Greens won six, independent candidates five, the nationalist Sinn Fein four, and the pro-business Progressive Democrats — Mr Ahern’s coalition partners in the outgoing government — just two.

The result means Mr Ahern must negotiate a new coalition, possibly with Labour or the Greens, before lawmakers convene to elect a prime minister June 14.

Both the Labour Party and the Greens are strident left-wing critics of Mr Ahern’s pro-business government that, for the past 10 years, has promoted Ireland as a low-tax magnet for American investment and European immigration.

Now, Ireland faces two weeks of behind-closed-doors negotiations to work out whether Mr Ahern — renowned for his negotiating skills — can combine policies and share power with politicians who, just a few days ago, were seeking his political scalp.

When the newly-elected Dail Eireann parliament convenes on June 14, Mr Ahern will need support from at least 83 lawmakers to form a majority government.

Mr Ahern’s decade-old coalition partners, the Progressive Democrats, were almost wiped out. Analysts said the anti-PD vote reflected frustration that Ireland’s free-market boom since the mid-1990s has outpaced state-funded services, including the road network, schools and hospitals.

At stake is whether Ireland continues on its current path toward a US-style society of fierce competition and car dependency, or turns toward the continental European norm of better social safeguards, strong public transport and higher taxes.

Ireland has been the unquestioned economic success of Europe since the mid-1990s. A 12.5% rate of business tax — a third of the European norm — has wooed hundreds of multinational corporations, particularly in computer technology and pharmaceuticals.

Unemployment has plummeted from 15% to 4.4%, mass emigration has been transformed into hefty immigration, and both population and jobs growth are rising faster than anywhere on the continent.